This invention relates generally to the field of flavor dispensing devices, and more specifically to a device for providing a selection of flavors for a frozen food dispenser.
Frozen food dispensers for ice cream and the like are widely used. Several devices for providing a selection of flavors are known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,580,905, 4,378,164 and 4,643,335 disclose various approaches to solving the need of mixing one of several flavors with a base mix of ice cream. Several flavored syrup ducts feed into a mixing chamber for combining syrup and ice cream. Some devices use an axially driven rotor in the mixing chamber to mix the ice cream with the syrup which is added at the circumference of the mixing chamber. This provides for a swirl of syrup on the outer portion of the ice cream.
One problem associated with multi-flavored devices is that of flavor carry-over. Various approaches are discussed in column 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,905, including using different mixing chambers for different flavors, and using a water flush system to be used between uses of different flavors.
It is necessary to design such systems to be easily cleaned due to their use of perishable food products. As such, it is desirable to have easily removable component parts which may be easily cleaned.
Some devices use axial drive mixers to completely blend base ice cream mix with flavoring syrup. These devices introduce syrup at the edge of the mixing chamber, and then the shaft driven mixer blends the ice cream and syrup around the outside of the drive shaft, providing a homogeneous mix of base and syrup.
It is common among prior multi-flavored devices to be integrated into the structure of the ice cream machine. While this may provide some advantages, it also creates difficulty in retrofitting machines not having flavor selection. Also, cleaning of equipment can be more difficult in some of the prior devices.
In the interest of disclosure, the following U.S. Pat. Nos. may be considered: 4,378,164 to Manfroni; 3,224,740 to Kuehn; 2,736,534 to Atkins; 3,830,407 to Wierlo; 2,262,293 to Lilja; 4,643,335 to Carnisio; 3,828,572 to Calim; 3,517,524 to Fiedler; 3,330,129 to Halverson et al.; 3,479,835 to Lane et al.; 4,635,825 to Tulasne; and 2,894,377 to Shikles, Jr., et al.